Cops in Istanbul kill two Turkish female militants who hurled grenades at police station

Istanbul: Turkish police Thursday killed two female assailants who hurled grenades and opened fire at an Istanbul police station before taking cover inside a nearby building, Turkish media reports said.

The two women — whose identity and affiliation were not clear — had holed up in an apartment in the Bayrampasa neighbourhood of the megacity after their attack.

Special forces officers conduct a search operation following the attack on the police station in Istanbul. Reuters

Police then launched an assault on the apartment, "neutralising" the two, the official Anatolia news agency said, quoting police sources. There were no reports of other casualties.

According to the Dogan news agency, the two women had thrown several grenades then opened fire at the riot police headquarters. Officers returned fire, injuring one of the attackers before they fled to the nearby building.

Turkey has been on a state of alert for months since a series of deadly attacks on its soil.

Last month, 29 people were killed in a car bombing that targeted a military convoy in Ankara, which was claimed by the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAK), who have been linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

In the last year, there were four deadly bomb attacks blamed on Islamic State (IS) jihadists, including the deadliest in Turkey's modern history that killed 103 people in Ankara in October.

There have also been sporadic attacks by radicals from the outlawed ultra-leftist Revolutionary People's Liberation Party–Front (DHKP-C).